Thunderbolts* Review: Florence Pugh Anchors Emotional MCU Movie
After a wave of multiverse mania and high-concept chaos, Thunderbolts* arrives as a refreshing shift in tone for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jake Schreier and written by Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok) and Joanna Calo (The Bear), the 36th installment in the MCU is more grounded, emotionally bruised, and thematically heavy than its recent predecessors, and all the better for it. These writers combine their two very different styles, effectively mixing the Hollywood blockbuster with bittersweet drama. What it lacks in cosmic spectacle, it makes up for with grounded character work, a surprisingly cohesive ensemble, and an emotional allegory for depression and mental health.
At its core, Thunderbolts is a “team of broken toys” story: a ragtag group of antiheroes forced into working together, all of whom have worked for the calculating Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). The setup is familiar, but Schreier and the writers inject just enough freshness, both emotionally and visually, to make it feel worthwhile. The ensemble includes returning MCU faces like Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, and David Harbour’s Red Guardian, as well as newcomers like Lewis Pullman’s Bob/Sentry, a man haunted by his amnesia and latent godlike power.
One of the film’s best early sequences introduces each team member through a tightly choreographed fight. It’s a smart, kinetic way to reintroduce the audience to these characters and their powers, from Ghost’s phasing to Taskmaster’s mimicry to Yelena’s brutal Black Widow training, while also establishing the film’s confident visual style. The cinematography and color palette are notably richer and more textured than in recent MCU entries, giving Thunderbolts a more tactile, lived-in aesthetic. New York has rarely looked this gritty in the franchise, and it sets the tone for a story that’s more interested in human vulnerability than saving the cosmos.
Florence Pugh anchors the film with a melancholic performance as Yelena, who is clearly adrift in the aftermath of Black Widow, Endgame, and Hawkeye. Her scenes opposite Harbour’s Red Guardian dig into the push-pull dynamic of found family and unresolved trauma. It’s clear she resents him, but she also needs him. Harbour provides standout, hilarious comic relief, but gets his emotional moments too. Stan’s Bucky, now a grizzled Congressional figure, channels shades of Terminator 2’s T-800 in a standout motorcycle sequence, with black leather, sunglasses, shotgun flips and all, reminding audiences that the Winter Soldier is still one of Marvel’s most physically compelling characters. And Russell’s John Walker remains a powder keg of insecurity and misguided patriotism, still grappling with the aftermath of his Falcon and the Winter Soldier downfall.
The real surprise is Pullman as Bob, a gentle amnesiac who unravels gradually across the film. Pullman brings a kind of quiet confusion and warmth that contrasts with the hardened cynicism of the other team members. His arc is one of the most narratively and emotionally satisfying, and he serves as the film’s thematic center: a man struggling not to be defined by his darker instincts. Themes of depression, redemption, and the weight of the past run through Thunderbolts like a current. The villain, whose identity is kept vague for much of the runtime, operates less as a traditional antagonist and more as a metaphorical force, a manifestation of the characters’ shared emotional baggage. It’s a clever approach, and one that lets the movie ask weightier questions than most MCU films: Are we going to let the demons of our past define who we are today?
Still, not every member of the team gets equal narrative weight. Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) are underserved by the script, relegated to background roles despite their intriguing abilities and backstories. Geraldine Viswanathan’s Mel, as Val’s assistant, is a perfectly enjoyable presence, while Julia Louis-Dreyfus relishes the Machiavellian gleam of Valentina but never quite escapes the feeling of being a chessmaster in a subplot that’s being saved for later.
The film’s action peaks during a well-staged third-act showdown in Manhattan that mixes practical stunts with restrained CGI. It’s here that Thunderbolts most clearly reclaims the MCU’s lost sense of street-level humanity: civilians run for cover, the stakes feel immediate, and the heroes are actually saving people instead of battling CGI entities. It’s a welcome return to the boots-on-the-ground feel of The Avengers, even as it raises a familiar question: why would anyone still live in Marvel’s version of New York City?
Despite its strengths, Thunderbolts stumbles in its final act. The film builds toward a reckoning with trauma, identity, and team loyalty, but ends abruptly. Plot threads are left dangling, and while it clearly aims to set up future stories in the MCU, it does so at the expense of narrative resolution. The lack of closure for several main characters, especially Walker, makes the film feel unfinished just when it should hit hardest.
Still, Thunderbolts earns its place in the MCU as one of its more thoughtful, character-driven entries. Pugh and Pullman shine in a film that’s not afraid to look inward, to ask if broken people can still be heroes or if they even want to be. It’s not perfect, but it’s more emotionally mature and narratively grounded than we’ve seen from Marvel in a while. That, in itself, feels like progress.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
Disclosure: ComingSoon attended an early screening for our Thunderbolts* review.
Source: Comingsoon.net